Wildlife

All posts tagged Wildlife

As the southerly winds whipped up their seasonal force and chill; and began to topple the leaves from the tree in the garden in ever greater numbers, requiring me to get out there with a rake once more…I was amazed to find a fully intact birds nest woven from natural and man-made materials such as moss, grass, fishing line (I think) and some sort of white fibres. Such a thing of beauty that it seemed such a shame that it couldn’t now be used again.

I am 99% certain it is the nest of the silvereye (pictured below), one of the smaller garden visitors. Beautiful olive green little bird which makes awesome constructions to boot!

I must confess that I don’t know much about these little guys (maybe about 1cm long) but they are quite fun to watch up close in the garden. This one seemed to start displaying to my camera by tilting its wings from side to side as I zoomed in, and even jumped onto the lens to get better acquainted. Beautiful colours and patterns, and they can jump like they have jets in their little legs!

Here is a photo of a cicada skin I found in the garden recently…incredibly it was still clinging to the fence where it had been discarded by the new adult. Perhaps it is perfectly formed for a larval stage which happens underground…but quite alarming to see up close. Thankfully they provide what, for me at least, is a lovely soundtrack to summer.

If you’ve got a good memory, you might recall my posting about the caterpillar of the Monarch Butterfly (link here) and its appetite. Unfortunately, the last time I saw a chrysalis, I was not able to see the butterfly emerge, but this year, not so! Hooray!

I was overjoyed to be around when a new butterfly emerged into the world and grab what I hope you will agree are some gorgeous photos of new life. It is a privilege to witness and be able to study something when it is posing for you before it heads off to do its thing. Amazing to see a wing up close as it is like lots of little square pixels of colour. Such beauty right there in the garden.

I have posted a long time ago about the time when I encountered a Praying Mantis munching its way through a wasp in the hedgerow of the garden here in Auckland. At that time I didn’t have quite as good a camera lens (or understanding thereof) as I do now.

More recently I had the fun of spending time watching quite a large one on the fence and here are a couple of my favourite photographs. Hope you like them!

No other insect seems to be happy to look down the barrel of a lens at you like the Praying Mantis, with no hint of running away. Almost like they know they are top of their little food chain, come and have a go if you think you’re hard enough! After birds, they are probably my favourite creature to watch.

I even had a tiny (1cm approx) baby one sat on my finger a few weeks ago quite happily cleaning its legs like it owned the place, too small for me to photograph but incredible to witness.

In 2002 I visited SeaWorld in Surfer’s Paradise, Australia and saw my first ever dolphin.

No matter what your opinion is on the moral side of housing such intelligent creatures in captivity (which I am not sure I really agree with unless it is linked to conservation efforts), it has to be said that this experience is one of the happiest moments I can recall.